Diario de lyndsayrodriguez

September 13th, 2017
In a greasewood vegetation community, near Minersville, UT.
Take SR-130 (Minersville Hwy) until the junction with SR-21. Go for about .5 mile and turn south (left) onto Thermo road. Drive about 15 miles until you reach a power line road that heads directly south. Drive for about 1.5 miles until you reach a yellow cattle guard and a fence. Take the 2 track road that heads west along the fence line. 1/2 mile down is one of the many places Chisel-toothed Kangaroo Rats live.
The vegetation at this particular site was mostly greasewood and either fourwing or shadscale saltbush. I didn't pay close enough attention to which one it was. There was probably about 20-30% vegetation cover. There was no slope to this site. It was a wide open greasewood flat.
I was with Rylan Orton, Dustin Schaible, and Conner England.
We have been observing these mammals for the past 3 weeks. (Originally we have been after trapping Dark Kangaroo Mice, but we have yet to trap one.) This particular one we observed for about 7 minutes taking measurements and sex identification.
We arrived at this site around 7:05am and left about 9:25am.
On the Beaufort scale the wind was a 1. There wasn't much of a breeze going on. Which is surprising because every other day it has slightly breezy and smelly because of the pig farm. Get a wiff of that breeze and you want to die. At the start of our observation, it was 57 degrees Fahrenheit with no cloud cover.
The elevation was 5,182 ft.
This particular day we trapped 10 kangaroo rats (I can't remember how many males and females, but we had both), 3 deer mice (all males, if I remember correctly), 1 grasshopper mouse (male), and 1 unknown mouse (male).
This was a fun day trapping small mammals. I have really enjoyed this part of my job. I'm sad because I will no longer be able to go out and process them in the morning because of school. Kangaroo rats are one of the cutest rodents ever. Being able to handle them is such a fun experience. I was lucky enough to not be bitten by anything we trapped!

September 18th, 2017
Cedar Mountain off HWY 143 and FH050
Take HWY 14 for 13 miles or until you reach the junction to Cedar Breaks-HWY 148. Turn onto HWY 148 and drive 7.6 miles until the next junction to Brian Head/Panguitch Lake-HWY 143. Turn off onto HWY 143 and go 9.6 miles. FH050 will be on the right.
The habitat is mainly conifer with aspen trees interspersed. This is a treated and burned area, so there is no underbrush. The trees range from a about a foot to probably 100 ft tall. The slope was between 5-10%.
I was with my fellow group members; Jessie Byers, Jamie Smith, Russel Gardener, Mariah Porter and Alicia Arredondo.
We arrived at the site around 3PM, but didn't start making observations until about 3:20PM.
I spent probably two minutes observing the mule deer track(s).
On the Beaufort scale the wind was around a 1 or a 2. The temperature was around 56 degrees F and no clouds that I could see.
The elevation was around 7000ft.
I didn't actually witness the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), but there were several fresh tracks in the mud indicating there was probably more than one in the area (5 or less).
I unfortunately forgot to put a ruler by the track to indicate the size, but it was about 2.5 to 3 inches long and about 1.5 to 2 inches wide.

September 25, 2017
-Cedar Mountain off HWY 143 and FH050
-Take HWY 14 for 13 miles or until you reach the junction to Cedar Breaks-HWY 148. Turn onto HWY 148 and drive 7.6 miles until the next junction to Brian Head/Panguitch Lake-HWY 143. Turn off onto HWY 143 and go 9.6 miles. FH050 will be on the right.
-The habitat is mainly conifer with aspen trees interspersed. This is a treated and burned area, so there is no underbrush. The trees range from a about a foot to probably 100 ft tall. The slope was between 5-10%.
-I was with Jamie Smith and Mariah Porter.
-We arrived to the burned area about 3:00PM. We were making observations at 3:30 after everyone had separated into their groups. I made my observation at 4:40PM and I looked at for about 2 minutes as I was taking pictures.
-The temperature was nice. It was probably around 57 degrees Fahrenheit with could cover of about 10% (the sky seemed relatively clear, at least from what I remember). The wind was between a 2 and 3 on the Beaufort scale. It was nicer on the mountain than it was in town!
-The elevation was around 7000ft.
-There were several Elk (Cervus elaphus) tracks and around the burned area we were in, but I only noticed one set of tracks where I found this one. Elk scat was also present in the area. Some were actually pretty fresh!
-No further comments at this time.